"Oh, that," Eileen said. "The burros are always doing that. The horses, too, at least the geldings and the stud. It doesn't mean anything, I don't think. My husband used to tell me that they ran their cocks out to cool them off!"

"Yes, I can see that it isn't hard," Doreen whispered. "But the size of the thing! Are horses much bigger than that?"

"Come to think of it, they're not," Eileen remarked. "That's a curious thing about animals, at least horses and burros. There isn't much difference in their cocks when they're hard and when they aren't, except that they get harder. But no bigger, though."

She could see that the woman was highly excited by the donkey's prick, which amused her. She herself had been around the ranch's animals far too long to see them as anything but familiar fixtures.

"I'll tell you what," Eileen suggested after a moment, during which Doreen had said nothing at all and had not removed her eyes from Jackson's cock. "If you'd like to go along, we could take a little drive tomorrow. I know something that might really interest you. Some of the neighbors are bringing over a couple of mares who are coming into heat; they're going to breed them to my stallion. We can slip down to the horse pasture tomorrow and have a good look at the proceedings if you'd like."

"Could we?" Doreen asked, moving her eyes away from Jackson for the first time. "My God, what an exciting thing to see! I've always beard about stallions and their mares; it sounds like it would be out of sight! Ooohh, I'd love to go!"

They made a date of it and Eileen promised to pick Doreen up at eight o'clock sharp for the drive to the horse pasture. She kept Ace, her prize stallion, in a pen by himself a couple of miles farther up a canyon, well away from the main cluster of buildings. Doreen had a question as soon as she got into the pickup the next morning.